Somebody – the players? the coaches? maybe Red from the afterlife? – decided to test that philosophy to the fullest last night. In the game’s first quarter, Boston was unable to convert consecutive possessions – the only 12-minute session all season in which they’ve earned that dubious distinction.

Other than a five-possession, 11-point run at the end of Q2, the C’s were successful on back-to-back trips down the floor only twice – and one of those four non-stops was concluded with two Kyrie Irving misses from the foul line.

The icing on this little upside-down cake was that they used eight first-half Offensive Rebounds to generate absolutely no points.

It appears that whatever rant Brad Stevens may have delivered during the intermission could be boiled down to five little words: GET TO THE FOUL LINE!!!

Going into last night’s game, the C’s were +76 in Free Throw attempts (+74 in makes) compared to the opposition.

Nemesis for a Night

In Q3, Miami incurred its fourth team foul with over seven minutes left on the clock. In the final session, the Heat racked up three hacks in 86 seconds and a fourth just a minute later.

The Celtics did indeed march to the free-throw stripe for 20 second-half attempts (to Miami’s eight). Alas, missing three of their final four tries changed a potential tie game into a finally insurmountable five-point hole.

The boys went on to convert four of their next five possessions – but that un-kind clock, with a little help from Dion Waiters, wouldn’t cooperate.